Dandelions

Children Are Meant to Cry

Lilia Vanrouge, Yuu

1.7k

I’m supposed to be the strong one. I’ve always had to be the strong one, the one everyone could rely on, the one who always has a level head in any situation. I’m not supposed to show any kind of weakness or vulnerability, because if I do, how am I supposed to hold my head high as I play the role of the person who knows what to do? How am I supposed to give advice that I can’t even take myself?

Even after being suddenly sent to a new world, after losing contact with everyone I’ve ever known and loved, even after facing overblot after overblot, and almost dying multiple times, even after everything I’ve faced in Twisted Wonderland, I’ve never been able to bring myself to be vulnerable. 

After all, why should I need to be vulnerable? I’m mentally strong enough to get through everything I’ll ever face, because I’ve been mentally strong enough to get through everything I’ve already faced. I’ve been fine my whole life, I can’t start being ‘not fine’ now. 

I’m not dead. That’s all that matters. 

So, content with this in mind, I put the finishing touches on dinner for Grim and I. Before I’d arrived here, I wouldn’t have spent much time or effort on dinner. It wasn’t worth it when it was just me. But…

I have Grim now. I can’t let him go hungry. 

I bring our plates into the dining room where Grim waits. 

Or…not?

“...Lilia. What brings you here…?” The plates in my hands lower slightly as I focus my attention on the room around me looking for Grim. 

“Oh, not much~! Sebek just needed a study partner and Grim so valiantly offered.”

I raise a brow, knowing very well that Grim wasn’t one to offer to put in actual effort like that. 

Lilia floats up from the chair he’d commandeered and settles in to my left, hovering just around shoulder height. “Well, I offered him some cans of tuna. Kyee hee hee~”

That explains it. 

“And you’re here…why, then?”

“I just thought I’d let you know where he was. I wouldn’t want you to worry.” He floats over to my right side with that smile of his slightly covered by his too-long sleeves. 

I set the plates down, coming up with a new plan for the evening now that Grim was out of the picture. Who was going to eat all this food with me? I sure couldn’t. 

Oh. Maybe…?

“In that case… I don’t suppose you’re free this evening? I wouldn’t want you leaving on an empty stomach, especially since you did me the favor of getting Grim to actually study.” Probably, anyway. 

“Oh? Are you inviting me to dinner~? I’d be delighted!” He settles back into one of the chairs, choosing one by one of the plates I’d set down. 

“Is there anything in particular you’d like to drink? I have water, a few kinds of soda, and if you’re willing to wait a few minutes, I could make some tea.”

“I’ll take a soda. You can surprise me on the flavor,” he replies with a smile. 

I give a nod as I return to the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge for Lilia’s soda and a drink for myself. 

I return to the dining room, placing Lilia’s drink near his plate and my own drink near my plate. I sit down next to Lilia, picking up my fork and taking my first bite, testing the flavor to make sure it was a good enough quality for Lilia. 

After a moment, I glance over at him to make sure he’s enjoying it. He seems to be enjoying it well enough, seeing the delighted smile on his face and the fact that it’s already almost a third of the way gone. 

I continue to slowly make my way through my own food, still checking on Lilia every few bites to make sure he’s still enjoying the food, or if it seems like there’s anything he needs. 

He seems to notice me checking in on him, because at some point he slows down a bit and looks at me. 

“Is there something on my face~?” he jokes, though he seems to know there’s something more to it, judging by his tone. 

“No,” I reply after checking just to make sure. “Are you enjoying the food?”

“It’s delicious. I might have to get the recipe from you later so I can make it for the boys~! Kyee hee hee!” 

“Oh, well…I kinda just…” How do I get away with *not* telling him the recipe? “Umm… There’s not really a ‘recipe’, per se…”

“Oh, is that so? A shame, really. Maybe I’ll just try to recreate it…?” He looks out the window with a pondering look on his face I *really* don’t like. 

“Or…I can make it for you guys sometime…?” What am I getting myself into here…?

“Kyee hee hee~! Well, I think I might have to take you up on that sometime.” He takes another bite with a smile, and I can’t help but return it. After all, he’s enjoying it. I couldn’t ask for anything more. 

At some point, his expression changes as something seems to cross his mind. He looks at me with an almost pondering look as he takes a few more bites. 

Eventually, he voices what’s on his mind. 

“You really care about people, don’t you?”

I look over at him with a bit of surprise at the sudden question. “I… Where did that come from?” I give a bit of a nervous laugh, now wondering where he intends to take this conversation. 

“Kyee hee hee… You just put a lot of effort into taking care of others. You worked hard on making this food for Grim, you’ve been checking in on me constantly. You always make sure everyone is having a good time.”

I slow down eating a bit, narrowing my eyes ever so slightly at his words. 

Does he intend to use the knowledge that I care about my friends against me? Does he intend to use the knowledge that I’d even *consider* them friends against me?

…No. That’s not in his nature. Right? That doesn’t seem to be what he wants. I think. 

“No need to be so suspicious~! It’s just lovely to see in you youngsters.” He looks at me with a smile, but it seems like he’s analyzing me even closer than before now. 

“...Indeed,” is the only response I can think to muster as I feel his gaze on me, and I find myself wondering just what exactly he’s looking for. I keep my gaze on my food, now wanting nothing more than to avoid his searching gaze. 

Finally, he turns his gaze back to his food, but I still feel like something is on his mind. 

“So, how has your stay here been?” He watches me with that same searching look that I continue to avoid. 

“Good…?” What else am I supposed to say?

“Mmm… Is that so?”

Finally, I meet his gaze with a look that asks ‘What do you want me to say?’

He seems to get it, since he responds with some kind of knowing chuckle. 

But his expression changes slightly. “Well, I suppose I just want to check in. You’ve been through a lot, after all~.”

Is he…concerned about me? I’d better shut this down quick. 

“I’m doing well. Thank you.” I give him a polite smile in an attempt to placate him with his questions. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

His usual smile fades ever so slightly at my response, and it is then I realize that I’ve somehow made a mistake. 

“...Yuu. I’ve seen the look in your eyes from many people in my travels. Those who constantly put others before themselves, those who disregard their own well-being.”

A sense of panic begins to well up in my chest as Lilia seems to show concern for my well-being, and I realize what’s about to happen.

I’m supposed to be the strong one. I’m not supposed to have problems. I’m supposed to be able to take care of myself, always. 

“...You don’t need to put everything on yourself. One so young shouldn’t have to bear that kind of burden on their own.”

No. Stop.

“You’ve been through a lot for someone so young. It’s okay to not be strong all the time.”

My gaze grows distant and my grip on my fork stills and tightens. 

I’m fine. Why is he showing concern? He doesn’t need to. 

“...You don’t have to be the strong one all the time. You’re too young to bear that kind of responsibility.”

Too young? Then why did everything have to happen like that…?

…If I was really too young…then why am I like this?

For some reason, Lilia stops talking. Is he done…? 

He’s still looking at me…

Wait…

Too late, I realize why Lilia had stopped. 

I look down at my plate, seeing a few little droplets of a clear liquid that weren’t there before. 

Am I…crying?

…When was the last time I did that…?

Lilia lifts from his chair, floating behind me and reaching a hand to the top of my head. 

He gently runs his hand from the top of my head to the side, gently repeating the motion a few times with a gentle voice. 

“You’re strong, Yuu. You’ve made that obvious. But you can be weak for a bit.”

After a moment, my fork drops to the table and my hand reaches towards my face to wipe away a stray tear that immediately gets replaced with another. And another. And…another. 

I almost died. I’m stuck in another world and I can’t go back to my friends and family, I can’t even talk to them. I…

Have I really been so stressed about all of this…?

By now, my breathing has been replaced with full-on sobs as Lilia continues to stroke my head. Gentle and comforting, like a father comforting his child. 

A kind of comfort that I haven’t felt in a long time. 

Lilia then pulls me into a hug, holding my sobbing face against his chest as he continues that comforting stroking motion. 

“...There you go. Let it out. Children are meant to cry.”

Heartshackle game night shenanigans :v

At taco bell today, someone asked cashiers to find them as many "marry me" and "take me home" fire sauce packets so he could propose to someone

Apparently went to multiple different taco bells in multiple different cities/towns to get these packets

The dedication is immaculate and endearing, good luck my guy--

🏹🏹

I got stuck on capcut and made like 2000 of these things about twst

I need more phone storage XD

Can I Help With Dinner?

Kalim Al-Asim, Yuu

1.9k

~*~*~

“You’re making dinner tonight, right Yuu?”

“Yup. You making a request?”

“Oh, I just wanted to ask if I could help? I wanna try cooking!” He smiles brightly as he asks, but there’s something behind his eyes that almost seems like he’s scared to ask. Like he’s already preparing for a rejection. It’s there, but if you weren’t observant, you’d definitely miss it. 

“Sure. I was planning on making chicken alfredo if you wanna help.”

“Oh! I’ve never had that before! Hahaha!” Somehow, his face lights up even more than usual, if that’s even possible for him. 

He excitedly takes my wrist and pulls me towards the kitchen, evidently very ready to start. “Let’s go! What do we need to do?”

“Geez, Kalim, slow down,” I chuckle, happy to see he was so excited to help cook. “We’ve still got a little time until we have to start. Why don’t we just hang out in the kitchen for a little bit?”

“Oh. That sounds fun! Do you wanna talk about stuff?”

“Sounds good.” I can’t help but give a fond smile at his excitement as we enter the kitchen. “So, anything in particular you wanna talk about?”

“Hmmm…” He stops by one of the counters, leaning against it with his hands on the edge and his fingers drumming against the cabinet doors. “Oh! I wanted to ask you! Do you like cooking? Do you cook often? What about back in your world?”

“Woah, woah, that’s a lot of questions!” I give a chuckle, holding my hands up. “I do like cooking, I’d say I cook a fairly average amount, and back in my world… Well, things were different back then. What about you? I know Jamil cooks for you a lot, but do you ever make your own food?”

He tilts his head slightly as he thinks back. “Not really, no. Jamil and the chefs back home have always cooked my meals. I’ve never really gotten the chance to! Hahah!”

…Never gotten the chance to?

“Well, what we’re making tonight isn’t that difficult. I’ll show you what to do.”

“Thanks! I bet you’re a great teacher, Yuu!”

“I’ll certainly try to be,” I laugh in response. “Just know, I’m no trained chef or anything.”

“That’s okay! The dinners that you make are always amazing, so I’m not worried.”

“Thank you. I’m glad you like my cooking,” I reply with a smile. 

Maybe I should check that we have everything we need…

“Hey! We should get some music going!” Kalim pulls out his phone and starts tapping away as I open the fridge and cabinets to search for ingredients. 

A fun, upbeat song starts playing from his phone, and he starts dancing and singing along. 

I, on the other hand, opt for simply standing off to the side and watching. Though it only seems to last for a few moments before Kalim takes my hand and pulls me towards a more open area of the kitchen, telling me to ‘dance with him’ with a bright smile I can’t seem to refuse. 

I start off with something fairly low-key, just a little bit of movement here and there as I follow along with his moves. Observing him. 

Ever since the events of winter break, I had found myself wanting to learn more about Kalim and Jamil. Right now is a prime opportunity to learn about the former. 

It was obvious that their dynamic wasn’t what either of them thought it was, or wanted it to be. Jamil wanted freedom. To him, their relationship was that of a boss and his employee. Kalim wanted friendship. To him, Jamil was someone who’d been with him for his entire life, and someone who would be there for him for the rest of his life as well. 

I knew a bit about them as a pair, but I didn’t know much about him as an individual. 

Ever since the start of our training camp with Vil, I’d gotten to know him a bit more. He’s relentlessly optimistic, always wanting to see the best in everyone and everything. He loves parties, and he loves seeing others happy. 

But just like pretty much everyone else in this school, he has his fair share of darkness. Of trauma. 

It’s reasonable when you find out that he’s been poisoned, when you realize that every time he and Jamil check for danger that it’s for good reason. When you realize there’s a reason he’s incredibly talented at identifying poisons. 

Every time I learn about him, I find myself more and more curious. 

How could I not be? Everyone I’ve met here is just so…interesting.

At some point, it gets close to the time where dinner had to start. I let Kalim know that we’d be starting soon, and I start heading over to the sink.

“Alright, wash your hands before we start. Food safety.”

“Ok!” He runs up to the sink, that same eternal smile on his face. I can’t help but ask myself how he does it. How does he stay so positive all the time about everything? Despite everything?

“Alright, what’s next?”

“Let’s start getting all of our stuff set out. First off, let’s start with the chicken.”

He rolls up his sleeves, and with a fist pump to get prepared, he replies, “Right!”

“Alright, start by laying them all out like this so we can start seasoning.”

Soon enough, everything is laid out and dinner prep has officially begun. I show him how to season the chicken, and he follows along carefully. Well, as carefully as he can. Unsurprisingly, he gets distracted a few times, but it’s obvious he’s trying. 

For a while, we work in relative silence as I show him how to season the chicken and music plays softly in the background. For a while, I feel pretty confident in letting him do his own thing as I begin on the noodles. 

“Oh. Hahah! I think I put a little too much on there.” 

Welp, I thought that a little too soon. 

I look over, and the entire thing of salt has been dumped on one of the chicken breasts. 

I give a blink, and then another. 

If it was anyone I had expected to be knowledgeable in this, I would probably be mad. 

But…it’s Kalim. 

I can’t help but laugh. A genuine one that would almost be confused with one of Kalim’s if the voice wasn’t different. 

“That’s fine. Let’s just brush as much of it off as we can.”

As I help him fix the chicken breast, I can’t help but realize I hadn’t genuinely laughed like that in…quite a while. Maybe this was a welcome reprieve from everything going on between overblots and being trapped away from my world. 

“Don’t worry, cooking is pretty forgiving. Most of the time you can fix things pretty easily. Besides, we can just make this one yours and load it with spices and stuff. Vil doesn’t have to know,” I finish with another laugh and a wink, which Kalim gives his signature laugh to. 

Once the chicken is fixed and properly seasoned, I return to the noodles to finish the first part of those before moving on to the next step. 

I show him our next step in dinner, and it goes surprisingly smoothly. Kalim is actually cooking. 

I can’t help but smile fondly from beside him as he does his part to make dinner. He’s a bit clumsy with it, dropping the chicken back into the pan while trying to flip it a few times, but overall…

I have to say, I’m proud of him. 

“Kalim? What are you doing in the kitchen with Yuu?”

I turn around to find a shocked Jamil in the entryway to the kitchen staring at Kalim. 

“Oh, I’m helping Yuu make dinner! They’re a really good teacher!”

Kalim barely gets the words out before Jamil starts his war path towards him, clearly aiming to remove him from the kitchen. 

Of course, I won’t be having it. I open a drawer, taking a random utensil out, which happens to be a wooden spoon…

And I smack Jamil on the forehead with it. 

The two boys look on with looks of surprise, Jamil having his mixed with a bit of pain. 

“Kalim is helping me.”

Jamil’s expression changes from surprise to a determined irritation. “Kalim can’t cook. I’ll help you instead. Kalim can–”

“Kalim is doing just fine.” I match his expression, making sure he knows I’m not budging on this. “Kalim will be helping me with dinner tonight. You can relax for tonight, Jamil.”

Jamil’s expression wars with itself as he looks between me and Kalim, clearly debating whether he wants to fight me on this or not. 

“...Like I said, Kalim can’t cook. He’s hardly reliable in the kitchen.” Though the words seem to fight me, the tone moreso says ‘Are you sure you want him to help you?’

Of course, I’m certain. “I’m teaching him, and he’s doing very well.” I narrow my eyes at Jamil ever so slightly, almost in a sort of challenge. “Besides…the only reason he’s ‘unreliable’ is because no one ever lets him learn things. He’s so reliant on everyone around him because no one ever lets him do things for himself. Everyone else does everything for him. He needs opportunities to do things himself.” My expression softens just as subtly as before as I finish with, “And you know…if Kalim learns how to do things on his own, it’ll be less work for you. You’ll have less to worry about if you can be confident that Kalim can do things on his own.

“Go sit down and study or something. We’ve got this; you can relax. If you’re worried about it, I’ll make sure nothing happens.”

Jamil seems to return to that war of ‘fight me or not’, but seems to decide against it. 

He leaves the kitchen, though I’m pretty sure I can still hear him in the next room. Well, I guess I can’t expect him to kill his habits so easily. Well, if it makes him feel better. 

After a little over half an hour, dinner is ready. I call everyone for dinner, making sure portions are to Vil’s standards. After all, I wouldn’t want Vil to say anything about it after Kalim and I had worked so hard on it. 

“Hey, Kalim. Do we wanna tell everyone you helped with dinner right away or do we wanna make it a surprise?” I ask him as everyone starts making their way down the stairs. 

“Ooh! I think making it a surprise would be fun!”

I give an almost sinister laugh in response, completely agreeing with his reasoning. 

Once everyone is gathered in the dining room, I observe everyone to decide when the best time to reveal the surprise is. 

Of course, Kalim is practically bouncing in his seat waiting, Jamil is picking at it as if he’s scared to try it, and Rook has a certain smirk like he knows something’s going on. Well, I can’t say I’m surprised by any of it. 

Welp, might as well.

“So, is everything okay?”

A few sounds of affirmation from a few of them, and a begrudging one from Jamil. 

I can’t help but smile as I’m interrupted by a very excited Kalim. 

“I helped with dinner! We did a really good job on it, didn’t we? Haha!”

fucking love cargo pants. are they ugly? yes. do i care? no. they have pocketssssss and i fucking love pockets. like fuck yeah pockets

An attempt was made..

Sometimes I get stuck making videos on capcut or smth and I realize that when I make videos of me (or my friends), and I just realized that I mostly use pictures from back when I absolutely hated how I looked. When I always told myself thinking I'm pretty or good-looking was me just being arrogant or smth

Well, that's some improvement ig XD